If You Were Wrong, Would You Want to Know It? A Matter of the Heart.

I go to ladies visitation, and one of the ladies there frequently starts out her conversations at the door with the question, “Do you consider yourself a spiritual person?” She listens to the other person’s point of view to see what they believe in relation to the Bible. If what they believe is not the Bible’s way of salvation, she follows with the question, “If you were wrong, would you want to know?”

I was with her one of these times and she was talking to a Buddhist lady. The lady said she was indeed very spiritual and said that in her religion, every one has a way to heaven (whatever heaven was to that person). She said that if you were a good person at heart and tried to live according to your view of God that you would have a good afterlife. The lady I was with asked her the telling question, “If you were wrong, would you want to know?” My heart was crushed when the lady said, “No!” Her reason was that since there was no real authority, no one could tell another person if they were wrong. Because our religious book would say one thing and her religious book would say another. “We just needed to do what WE believed was right.”

We left her house disheartened at the thought that she may never come to the saving knowledge of truth.

I say this because it is important to remember that there is a truth.

Would a God who took four books of the Bible to explain every little detail of how the Jews were to live their lives, really leave our generation stranded? Nope! The truths and commands of the Bible are as real today in regards to the Christian’s life as they were when they were written two thousand years ago. Just as the Old Testament commands were to be obeyed “religiously” even two or three thousand years after THEY were given as well. God didn’t give us the Bible just for the fun of it or even just for salvation. He gave it to keep us clean and useful vessels FIT for the Master’s use. Take it all, or leave it all. If the Bible says it, I must accept it; regardless of if it seems wrong, unfair, applicable to today’s society or not, or is beyond my understanding. I must submit.

You know, when I was younger, just the sentence “I must submit” caused my spine to stiffen and my heart rise up. It was later that I understood that submission was not subjection (obedience) but a matter of the heart. It was that attitude of willingness; obeying with a happy heart. It’s like when you ask someone to do something and they smile and say, “Sure!” instead of sighing “Fine.” Let’s get back to when I was a kid though.

When I was little I had a rebellious heart toward any authority, but thankfully I believed the Bible. I was ignorant of the Bible, but I had respect for it. You could hear me often say, “Show me where it says that in the Bible and THEN I’ll believe you.” My father got the brunt of these show downs and he would spend HOURS trying to explain the truths of God’s word.

I, like my father, hated to admit when I was wrong. At some point in these show downs, I would recognize, “Uh oh! I might be wrong here.” But I wasn’t going to tell him that. Why? PRIDE!

I have found that most everyone just wants to be loved, and they want to feel accepted. They don’t want to look foolish, rebellious, unkind, ignorant, or any bit unworthy in that other person’s eyes.

So, what I would normally do was try to explain my point of view to the best of my ability so that he would think that what I believed was okay. (Even if he was right, I wanted him to accept my point of view so that I knew he didn’t think less of me.) I would go away and when no one was looking I would try to correct my erroneous viewpoint without ever letting him know any different.

I wish I knew then what I know now.

Prov 9:8 Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.


Prov 13:1 A wise son heareth his father's instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke.


Ecc 7:5 It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.


Prov 19:25 Smite a scorner, and the simple will beware: and reprove one that hath understanding, and he will understand knowledge.


Prov 27:5 - 6 Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Over and over again are we told that it is a wise man that hears rebuke and learns. A wise man will hear and will increase learning. That is what the wise man does. He continues to learn, not just from the Bible and the Holy Spirit, but from the Bible and other Christians (not just the pastor) as well. It is a good friend who braves a confrontation to lovingly rebuke a brother.

My heart was not willing to learn. While I said to others that I wanted to know if I was wrong, for one reason or another I just would not believe that I was wrong. At this point in life, I have just come to accept the truth about my depravity. Satan is manipulative. My flesh is manipulative. My heart does not want the truth.

Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Mark 7:20 – 23, And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

You see, if we recognize that our feelings mean nothing and that the Bible is the truth, not only in doctrine but also in practice, we no longer have to wrestle our own understanding, debate philosophy or situational ethics. We can admit with a smile that like the wise man, we have learned something new.

Now, if I am wrong, I know that I would want to know it. Why? Because my heart WANTS to obey. I am HAPPY to surrender my desires in submission to His (most of the time). If I was displeasing God, (whether I felt like I was convicted or not) and someone was willing to risk a little bit of discomfort to teach me something in the Bible, I may balk at first, but I want to please God first and foremost. I trust that you do too.

There may be some things that I am passionate about that may seem way off base, or may seem right on target to you. I would ask that you have grace with me and know that I am not trying to be argumentative or condescending. I am just recording the truths that I have drawn from the Bible in hopes to share them with my children (biological, spiritual and adopted at heart) as they grow. I put these articles here because I thought they may also be a blessing to others. I ask of you, like Paul asked Timothy, in 2 Timothy 2:15 “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” If something I say doesn’t make sense, study it out for yourself … seeking nothing but the truth.